Staff Member

REGINA -- Five weeks ago Saskatchewan went into Calgary riding a three-game win streak only to squander a 17-point, fourth-quarter lead en route to a tough overtime loss.

The Roughriders haven't been the same team since.

"If you want to look at the big picture, that was the game that started off our four-game losing streak," quarterback Darian Durant said Friday as the Riders (3-4) prepared to meet the Stampeders (3-4) on Saturday afternoon at Mosaic Stadium.

On a cloudy late-summer day in Regina, Calgary Stampeders coach and general manager John Hufnagel quickly dispelled the notion that his team will be facing a "desperate" Saskatchewan Roughriders squad on Saturday afternoon.

"Well, I think we can say both teams are desperate," quite rightly noted Hufnagel on Friday, less than 24 hours before the 1 p.m. MDT kickoff at Mosaic Stadium (TSN, QR77 Radio).

"Desperation is an urgency and desire to accomplish something, and we both want to accomplish something (on Saturday)."

In the Stamps' case, that means not just winning, but starting off arguably their most important stretch of games of the 2012 Canadian Football League season.

No one on the inside, or from the outside for that matter, has hung a catchy if insufferable moniker on them. Like, say, Swaggerville.

For years, Smilin' Henry Burris and his Ultra-Brite high-beams served as a universal logo for the product.

Now, there is no singular individual of a Geroy Simon or a Ricky Ray resonance to define the whole.

Long-serving Nik Lewis, that wrecking-ball of a slotback, has by process of elimination inherited 'face of the franchise' responsibilities, but they aren't anybody's team, yet, the way the Als' are, for instance, evergreen Anthony Calvillo's.

They don't suffocate opponents defensively or put an APB out on the quarterback the way the Lions do.

They aren't renowned as the league's most potent aerial outfit or tops in rushing yardage.

REGINA — So, some time between the end of practice on Thursday when Stamps coach and GM John Hufnagel made it clear in no uncertain terms that defensive back Quincy Butler would be starting Saturday’s game in Regina, and this morning when the Stamps held their walk-through practice at McMahon Stadium before catching their charter flight to Regina, Butler decided that his knee wasn’t ready for prime time.

When Sandro DeAngelis left the Calgary Stampeders in 2010 to head home, he never thought he would end up with the enemy.

Funny how things work out in the CFL.

Through his first five seasons in the league, DeAngelis was a money kicker for the Stamps, even being named the Grey Cup most outstanding Canadian in 2008.

The choice to join the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as a free agent for the 2010 campaign didn’t work out as expected.

After his worst CFL season, the Niagara Falls, Ont., native was released. He spent last year on the Montreal Alouettes reserve list, providing insurance for Sean Whyte, but found himself without a job this spring when camps opened.

Through seven games, Saskatchewan Roughriders running back Kory Sheets leads the CFL in yards from scrimmage (762), rushing yards (468) and rushing touchdowns (six). If only he could be satisfied with that.

“By my standards, I’ve done just an OK job,” Sheet said. “I’ve done just enough to get by, in my eyes. By everyone else’s standards, maybe they were lower than mine.

“In the next couple of games, I will start doing better than I have been.”

That has to be bad news for the Calgary Stampeders heading into Saturday’s crucial matchup at Mosaic Stadium (1 p.m., TSN, QR77).

When Darian Durant lines up against the Calgary Stampeders defence, he won’t be seeing Cover Zero. Instead, the Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback will be looking at an old friend.

On Wednesday, Stamps defensive back Quincy Butler (who wears zero this season) knocked knees with a teammate during practice. The halfback tried going on Thursday, and thought he would be able to suit up Saturday in Regina. On Friday morning, it was determined the injury would keep him out of this crucial matchup between 3-4 teams.

“It didn’t respond as quickly as we thought it would,” Stamps head coach John Hufnagel said. “It’s a bruised knee but it might have affected his lower leg also. Unfortunately he didn’t make the trip.”